In the past 2 days I received too many smses (is that a word?) about how the marathi manoos or Raj Thackray should go and try and defend the hostages as the NSG commandos are from the north or south
1) People have to stop confusing MNS with Marathis or Maharashtrians..
2) about the sms... quoting a friend - the 3 top cops who lost their lives and other 11 cops did not differentiate that the people at CST were waiting for trains to goto Nasik or Kanpur or Patna or banglore... they went there to defend indians and lets not bring this pettiness at a time of such tragedy
about the raj thackray remark... India has serious problems... and people like raj thackray and narendra modi are not here to solve them...they are only here to tell us who to blame for it... thackray will say each and every problem of yours is because of the north indians... modi will tell us its the muslims... this is just divisive politics and nothing else (I really dont understand how people keep being led by this...how they believe it!!!)... we have serious problems... and we need serious people to tackle them... sadly we dont have too many of them around... so I cant help but wonder - what are we going to do about it - sit at home and crib 'is desh ka kuch nahin ho sakta'? or will we be the change we want to see?
Friday, November 28, 2008
Cheering the commandos...
its 1911 hrs on 28th nov... the media and the people are going crazy cheering the commandos... and i cant help but remember this was the same media that cried abt the multi thousand crore "burden" that the sixth pay commission was going to be to the tax payer... there were polls being done about if the Armed forces were justified in asking for equivalent pay packages... nobodys on the street said how they already get enough... and the media ran its sms program...quoting a friend of mine - every profession gets bastardized and this is the bastardization of the media. they have turned now...everyone is for the sixth pay commission...every one remembers the soldier now and praises him... and i wonder how long will this last... till the time the next news story hits... or the budget deficit ticks to a higher number... i wonder how long will it take for the media to start harping about human rights... starts questioning the ways of the army... and how much it should be paid...i give the media and the public 3 months to turn against the same commando... the same army man.
and that soldier will still stand at the border...protecting us through this cheering... through the sms saying he doesnt deserve to be paid more as it might hurt my next mall trip...through the hue& cry about human rights.... through the IAS officers robbing him of his rights... because that soldier is the only one who knows what it means to be an Indian
and that soldier will still stand at the border...protecting us through this cheering... through the sms saying he doesnt deserve to be paid more as it might hurt my next mall trip...through the hue& cry about human rights.... through the IAS officers robbing him of his rights... because that soldier is the only one who knows what it means to be an Indian
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The spirit of Bombay
I came to Bombay 4 1/2 years ago... and in this period i have seen the crisis situations like the flood, the bombings, the MNS menace - and the day-to-day struggle of a mumbaikar coz of the lack of infrastructure - sorry state of roads, no prep for the monsoons, packed local trains, traffic jams etc etc etc... and everytime all this is swept under the carpet of the "spirit of mumbai"...
in the beginning i was really amazed - i was in awe of this city and its people who bounced back the very next day after the flood in 2005...everyone applauded the spirit of mumbai - accolades to the mumbaikar... 'thats wot makes bombay' ... and that was that - nothing was done. bombay was stuck again in the next monsoon and the next and the next. The spirit of bombay keeping it afloat.
trains were bombed... the average mumbaikar descended on the roads with food and water to help the ones affected... "praise the spirit of bombay" ... and nothing was done... life went on.
MNS went on a rampage -- killed a student -- destroyed govt and pvt property -- party 'karyakartas' held the city hostage as the MNS chief went to court. "spirit of bombay blah blah blah" - life goes on
Now yesterday terrorists open fired at CST, Leopold cafe, trident, taj, cama hospital, bombed vile parle & santacruz... killing more than 125 innocent people (number increasing by the minute) injuring many more... hostages yet held at nariman house taj and trident. Mumbai has lost 3 of its top cops... encounter carries on...Army takes over the city after 15 years... now what will happen??? Will the mumbaikar again be assuaged by the praise of his/her spirit... or will bombay finally put its foot down and say enoungh is enough... Will bombay spearhead a people's movement -- will there be change or will we go back to business as usual??? Time will tell.
in the beginning i was really amazed - i was in awe of this city and its people who bounced back the very next day after the flood in 2005...everyone applauded the spirit of mumbai - accolades to the mumbaikar... 'thats wot makes bombay' ... and that was that - nothing was done. bombay was stuck again in the next monsoon and the next and the next. The spirit of bombay keeping it afloat.
trains were bombed... the average mumbaikar descended on the roads with food and water to help the ones affected... "praise the spirit of bombay" ... and nothing was done... life went on.
MNS went on a rampage -- killed a student -- destroyed govt and pvt property -- party 'karyakartas' held the city hostage as the MNS chief went to court. "spirit of bombay blah blah blah" - life goes on
Now yesterday terrorists open fired at CST, Leopold cafe, trident, taj, cama hospital, bombed vile parle & santacruz... killing more than 125 innocent people (number increasing by the minute) injuring many more... hostages yet held at nariman house taj and trident. Mumbai has lost 3 of its top cops... encounter carries on...Army takes over the city after 15 years... now what will happen??? Will the mumbaikar again be assuaged by the praise of his/her spirit... or will bombay finally put its foot down and say enoungh is enough... Will bombay spearhead a people's movement -- will there be change or will we go back to business as usual??? Time will tell.
Subah dekhenge
The encounter and the rescue mission is yet on. My mom called in the evening and asked if I was going to office tomorrow and I said "subah dekhenge". My mom said - "Yeh toh Jammu wali baat hai".
From 1990 - 1992 my father was posted in Jammu... if you havent stayed in J&K you have no idea of what I am talking about. There you lived on a 'daily basis' ...that time it seemed natural...that was the way of life. You made plans having checked the hygiene factors (bombing/shoot outs)... I remember all of us going to the railway station to drop my aunt... when we reached home there was the news of a bomb blast on the same platform - we missed it by 15 min. We went to raghunath bazar and by the time the first car reached home there was a blast and we waited... hands folded in prayer... for the rest of our family.
Today... after 16 years I am again in a place jahan subah dekhenge...
From 1990 - 1992 my father was posted in Jammu... if you havent stayed in J&K you have no idea of what I am talking about. There you lived on a 'daily basis' ...that time it seemed natural...that was the way of life. You made plans having checked the hygiene factors (bombing/shoot outs)... I remember all of us going to the railway station to drop my aunt... when we reached home there was the news of a bomb blast on the same platform - we missed it by 15 min. We went to raghunath bazar and by the time the first car reached home there was a blast and we waited... hands folded in prayer... for the rest of our family.
Today... after 16 years I am again in a place jahan subah dekhenge...
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